The El Con Mall in Tucson has an upside-down message etched into it, apparently thanks to the work of a wily architect or contractor in the late 1960s. I reported the silly story in my day job at the Arizona Daily Star.

The trim, pictured here, was meant to say “LEVYS” — the name of an old Tucson department chain — in repetition, but when you look at it upside down, it reads, well, you can see what I’ve outlined.

From the story:

Even the El Con brass doesn’t know why the upside-down dirty word occurred.

“It has been a source of curiosity for many years,” said a chuckling Susan Allen, El Con Mall spokeswoman.

Readers who identified the anomaly offered their own theories.

“There apparently was a dispute with the architecture firm – the same one that designed the University of Arizona library,” James W. Stilley wrote.

The crazy things you can see at the mall.

Tucson Oddity: Naughty word hidden in building’s trim [Arizona Daily Star]

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